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A Practitioners' Guide

Fireworks are enjoyed responsibly by thousands of people up and down the country every year. They can be used on all sorts of occasions, but they are primarily used to celebrate Guy Fawkes Night, Diwali, New Year’s Eve and the Chinese New Year. Unfortunately, a small minority of people use fireworks irresponsibly and cause serious nuisance within their local communities. An even smaller minority sometimes use fireworks as weapons to harass and injure other individuals.

Title: Tackling fireworks misuse: A practitioners' guide
Authors: Home Office and BERR (Department for Business Enterprise and Regulatory Reform)
Number of pages: 12
Date published: October 2008
Availability: Download full report PDF 313Kb

WHAT IS ANTI-SOCIAL BEHAVIOUR INVOLVING FIREWORKS?

Anti-social behaviour involving fireworks ranges from fireworks being set of late at night with no regard for the noise nuisance this causes, to deliberate physical harm or threat of harm caused to people, animals and property. This sort of behaviour can cause communities to live in fear, and any action where fireworks are used to harass, intimidate or cause damage to others is criminal and anti-social.

SANCTIONS TO TACKLE THE PROBLEM

There is a robust package of legislation in place to protect communities from the misuse of fireworks. This legislation enables the police, police community support officers (PCSOs), trading standards officers and customs officers working together to tackle the problem. The full report gives details of the legislation that can be used against the sale, supply and misuse of fireworks. 

PENALTY NOTICES FOR DISORDER (PNDs)

PNDs are a quick and efective way of tackling fireworks misuse, allowing agencies to punish offenders immediately with £80 fines. They are part of the wider drive to crack down on anti-social behaviour involving fireworks, and ofer the police a quick method of dealing with fireworks ofences.

PNDs can only be issued by certain individuals. These include:

• uniformed police officers
• PCSOs who have been designated with this power by the chief of police
• persons who work in a community safety role, including neighbourhood wardens, park rangers, etc. who have been ‘accredited’ with this power by the chief of police.

Penalty notices for disorder can be issued to those aged 16 and over. However, 7 police forces – West Midlands Police, British Transport Police (Birmingham Division), Essex Police, Lancashire Police, Nottinghamshire Police, Merseyside Police and Metropolitan Police (Kingston Division) – recently piloted the issuing of PNDs to 10–15-year-olds and have used these PNDs to good efect.

The table below lists the firework ofences punishable by an £80 PND.

Offence	Legislation
Throwing fireworks in a thoroughfare or public place	s80 Explosives Act 1875
Breach of the fireworks curfew (11pm–7am)	Fireworks Regulations 2004, Fireworks Act 2003 s11
Possession of adult fireworks in a public place by an under-18	Fireworks Regulations 2004, Fireworks Act 2003 s11
Possession of category 4 fireworks	Fireworks Regulations 2004, Fireworks Act 2003 s11

 

       

CATEGORIES OF FIREWORK

All fireworks sold in the UK are categorised according to the size of their functional component, and must comply with BS 7114 and be marked accordingly with a label indicating their category. The four categories of fireworks are as follows:

Category 1 – indoor fireworks	Party poppers. Typically marked: FIREWORK SUITABLE FOR INDOOR USE. Primary packages and selection boxes should have the same marking.
Category 2 – garden fireworks	Typically stored in a PVC bag with a backing card and header. Must be viewed at a minimum of 5 metres. Marked: GARDEN FIREWORK. This marking will only appear on boxes containing category 2 fireworks or selections containing category 1 and 2 fireworks.
Category 3 – display fireworks	Must be viewed at a minimum of 25 metres (not suitable for use in gardens). Owing to the recent change from the UK default classification to the UN default, rockets of 20g Net Explosive Content (NEC) or those with a flash-powder bursting charge are classified as 1.3G (this is an indicator for hazard classification). Marked: DISPLAY FIREWORK.
Category 4 – professional display fireworks	For specialist use only. It is an offence for the public to be in possession. Must not be sold to anyone who has not received proper training.

 

Getting a copy

Download Tackling fireworks misuse: A practitioners' guide PDF 313Kb

Last update: Thursday, October 30, 2008